13. Don’t you know what I and my predecessors have done to the people of other nations? Were any of the gods of these other nations able to rescue their lands from my power?
14. Which one of any of the gods of these nations that my predecessors destroyed was able to rescue them from my power? So why should your god be able to rescue you from my power?
15. Don’t let Hezekiah seduce you like fools. Don’t believe him! No god of any other nation or kingdom has been able to rescue their people from me or from my predecessors. No, your gods won’t rescue you from my power.
16. The Assyrian king’s servants continued to make fun of the Lord God and his servant Hezekiah.
17. He wrote other letters insulting the Lord God of Israel, defying him by saying, "Just as the gods of the nations in other countries couldn’t rescue their people from my power, Hezekiah’s god won’t be able to rescue his people from my power."
18. Then they shouted loudly in Hebrew at the people of Jerusalem gathered on the wall, in an attempt to frighten and demoralize them, in order to capture the city.
19. They spoke about the God of Jerusalem as though he were the work of human hands, like the gods of the other peoples of the earth.